Open-top freight-car end



Sept. 1551925.

' I J. J.-TATUM OPEN TOP FREIGHT CAR END Filed "arch 12. 1924 attorneyxii!!!15311514514455I n Patented Sept. 15, 1925'.

UNITED STATES JOHN J. TATUM, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

OPEN-TOP FREIGHT-CAR END.

Application filed March 12, 1924. Serial No. 698,667.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN J. TATUM, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, re-

siding at Baltimore city, in the State of Maryland, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Open-Top Freightthe brake wheelcould be operated, and by extending the brake staff above th top endwalls the staff and wheel were exposed to damage by the clam shells andother unloading devices hitting the staff and making the brakeinoperative, which condition resulted in a Federal safety appliance V10--lation, for which the road was penalized. Another expedient object inconnection with the old practice of heap end walls was the use of abrake ratchet lever which is located below the end of the car, lowerdown BO than the top of the side walls of the car as well as the end ofthe car, and on such cars the brake shelf is necessarily located so lowon the ends of the car that the brakeman is denied of an opportunity ofseeing across the car when it is being switched, making it verydiflicult for him to gauge or tell when the car he is riding will hitstanding cars in the yard or train, which results in serious damage toproperty and sometimes bodily injury.

The object of my invention is toprovide a heap end wall for open topcars which overcomes all of the objections incident to the heap end wallheretofore in use.

My invention consists in providing an open top car with the heap endwall, which is offset, to provide a space for the brake wheel and permitthe brake wheel to be located below the top of the heap end of the carwhereby it is protected from being damaged by being hit with clam shellsand other unloading devices.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the end of an open top car embodyingmy invention.

Figure 2 is a detail view of the end wall of an open top car showing myinvention.

Figure 3 is a detail side elevation of Fig ure 2.

Figures 4; and 5show other embodiments of my invention.

The reference numeral 1 designates an end wall of a car, and 2 a sidewall of a car, said walls having at their proper edges angle plates, 3and 1-, which rigidify the upper ends of the walls and angle plate 4being secured to the top of the end wall 1. This is standardconstruction.

The heap, or extension end wall 5 is made from plate metal of the samegrade as the side and end walls of the car, and has a fiat top edge 6and sloping side edge 7, the body of the wall sheet 5 being bentoutwardly as at 8 to constitute a shelf, the

outerredge of which is secured by suitable rivets to the angle iron 4 atthe top of the endwall 1. This heap end 5 is further secured to the sideand end walls'by means of gusset plates 9 which are riveted to the shelf8 and to the angle irons 3 and 4 of the side and end walls 1 and 2,thereby rigidly securing this heap end wall 5'to the car structure. Inorder that the heap end wall 5 may be rigid I bend the metal of saidwall into flanges 10, which function as rigidifying members to enablethe plate 5 to resist the end thrust of the cargo while the car is underservice conditions. I secure the hand grab iron 11 to one of theseflanges 10 to one side of the car, which grab iron is in convenientposition to be grasped by an operator ascending or descending the ladder12 on the end wall of the car.

It will be clearly seen from Figures 1 and 3 that with this offset inthe heap end wall 5 space is provided for the brake wheel 13 on th brakestafi 14 and that, therefore, the brake staif need not be extended toany greater length than is now standard in open top cars, thuseliminating any extra expense of increasing the length of the brakestaff. The wheel 13 has ample space over the shelf 8 in which to lie andin which to be operated.

This arrangement permits the location of the brake shelf 15 so that thebrakeman can stand on the shelf and see across the top of the car whenit is being switched and control the speed of the car he is riding toprevent it from making a violent impact against standing cars in theyard or trains,

thereby eliminating damage to the equipment, jolting of part of thelading off the car and resultant injury to the operator of the car fromsuch jo-lting and from the shifting of the lading over the end of thecar.

Further, this arrangement does away with the necessity of using a brakeintchet'lever which is located below the end of the car lower down thanthe top of the side walls of the car, as well as the end of the car,which are mostly built with ends no higher than the sides. ()n such carsthe brake shelf is located so low on the ends of the car that thebrakeman is denied an opportunity of seeing across the car when it isswitched, making it almost impossible for him to gauge the speed or totell when the car he is riding will hit standing cars in the yard ortrains.

From Fi nre 4 it will be seen that I may form the heap load extension 15integral with the car end wall 16, the end wall having the floor flange17.

In Figure 5 I have illustrated the end wall 18 and heap load extension19 as being made of corrugated metal, the lower portion of the end wallin this figure being broken away on account of lack of space. Of course,it is obvious that these corrugations may extend vertically or as shownor they may be a combination of vertical and horizontal corrugations.

It is, of course, obvious that changes may be made in the details ofconstruction shown herein, within the scope of the appended claims,withoutdeparting from the spirit of my invention.

VVhat- I claim is:

1. An open top freight car having end and side walls, a shelf extendinginwardly from the top of each end wall and a supplemental end wallextending upwardly from the inner end of said shelves.

2. The combination with an open top freight car having side and endwalls, of a brake staff and wheel extending above the plane of the topof said walls, and a guard extending upwardly from the end walls abovethe plane of the upper end of said staff and wheel.

3. The combination with an open top freight car having sideand endwalls, of a brake staff and wheel extending above the plane of the topof said walls, and a guard extending upwardly from the end walls abovethe plane of the upper end of said staff and Wheel, and a hand grabsecured to said guard.

4. An open top freight car having end and side walls, a shelf secured tothe top of each end wall, and extending inwardly from said end wall, asupplemental end wall extending upwardly from each shelf and havingrigidifying flanges at its top edge.

5. An open top freight car having end and side walls, a. shelfprojecting inwardly from the top of each end wall, gusset platessecuring said shelves to the end walls, a supplemental end wallextending upwardly from the inner edge portion of each self, and arigidifying flange at the free edge of each of said supplemental endwalls.

6. As a new article of manufacture, supplemental end wall for an opentop freight car, comprising a. vertical plate having an outwardlyextending shelf adapted to be secured to the top of the end wallsof saidtype of car.

In testimony whereof I afrlx my signature.

JOHN J. TATUM.

